Drabbles and Whatnot

~Imagine Seven~

Game: Professor Layton and The Lost Future (also called the unwound future in some places I think)
Characters: Clive Dove, Luke Triton, Professor Layton, Flora and Inspector Chelmey
(i love this series so much like my gosh 😅)

His head is pounding when he finally lifts it off the floor but that's unsurprising considering it had been slammed against the ground only moments earlier. Clive groans and moves to stand, staggering as the room spins.

Alarms are blaring all around him, as well as bright flashing lights which really aren't helping his headache. Maybe he shouldn't have underestimated Layton. Speaking of whom.

Clive opens his eyes as well as he can and surveys the room. He wasn't stupid, they will be gone by now. But he can't quite extinguish the flame of hope that burns deep down, threatening to spread through his veins and make him choke on the thick smoke it produces.

His eyes water, but that is surely from the destruction of his machine. He's spent ages on it after all, only for it to be ruined in an instant. There is no way he's upset over being abandoned by the people who had trusted him. If anything he deserves it.

The room is still swaying but it's no longer down to his dizziness. His contraption creaks and groans under its own weight, metal grating and buckling as gravity begins to catch up with it.

He's going to die.

The thought hits him quite suddenly, chilling him to the core and smothering the flame that had been threatening to expire since the moment he'd realised he was alone.

Perhaps he would have stayed there if it wasn't for Luke. He could have done quite easily. And what a way for Clive, the Master of Betrayal And Disguise to die, at the hand of his own machine. The irony would almost be touching.

But the sight of the boy lying unconscious, pinned under a metal beam has him up and moving again. Why did Layton leave him behind?

Clive reaches Luke in an instant, checking his wrist for a pulse and then thanking every deity he can think of when there is one. A little weak maybe but a pulse nevertheless.

The sudden sound of crunching metal wrenches him from his thoughts as he looks up in time to see a piece of debris flying down towards him. He flings himself out the way, only just making it. The metal piece thuds into the floor and shakes the machine once more.

He's soon back next to Luke, pushing and shoving at the beam in an effort to lift it for just long enough to be able to drag Luke out. It seems an impossible task but he didn't get this far by giving up.

A quick search around the room provides him with the materials he needs. Clive grips the winch in hand, his grip on it loosening as he grows more and more nervous.

"Don't be an idiot." He whispers, "Save him you fool."

Throwing all caution to the wind, he digs it under the beam, making sure not to hit Luke with it. For a second it looks as though it won't work, as he tries to lift the beam, and his heart stops. And then, inch by tiny inch, the slab of metal hovers just above Luke's legs.

Clive grabs him and pulls him out quickly, letting the beam fall back into place behind them. The Surveillance Room sways again as he staggers forward, Luke scooped in his arms and pressed close against his chest.

His legs shake as he tiptoes across the room, narrowly avoiding holes in the floor and flying debris as it is shaken from its roots. That's when things begin to go downhill. Quite literally too.

The machine buckles again, the metal screaming one final protest as it starts to collapse into itself, toppling towards the ground. Clive dashes to the deck, still cradling Luke and hoping for a miracle.

In one last ditch effort to save the boy he had pretended to be for the past few days; he jumps just before the machine hits the ground, falling from it and then hitting the ground with considerable force.

He holds Luke close as they roll away from the wreckage, protecting him as best he can. The smoke around them begins to clear and he can make out shapes coming towards them.

Luke opens his eyes with a groan, clutching his head as it throbs. Clive breathes a small sigh of relief, and loosens his grip around Layton's apprentice.

The professor arrives moments later, closely followed by Flora and Inspector Chelmey. Layton reaches the two of them and kneels down, his hand touching Luke's forehead worriedly.

Clive smiles up at him and nods.

"It's okay. He's alive. I promise."